Quaran-Cuisine: The Iso-Kitchen Diaries VII
- Tasha's Eats
- Jul 6, 2020
- 4 min read
This week I have been researching a topic that is prevalent to our present situation: slow living. This all came down to a self-realisation of how my attention span was worryingly short, and as a result, I am never able to give tasks my full attention, leading to dissatisfaction, insubstantial knowledge, etc. etc. Anyway, I decided to turn my attention towards the concept of living slow, living with people and living in the now. The simple fact is this – that slow living is motivated by our evolutionary instincts, which all comes down to connection. This is completely pertinent to food – food should be celebrated as a primordial source of connection: connection to the people we are eating with, to the physical origins and journey of the food to our plate and to the cultural origins.
Nowadays, this is negated, when the fast-pace movement of our society and lifestyle forces us to dismiss the significance of food and the practice of eating in favour of transitioning to the next task as quickly as possible. The foundation and authenticity of the food is thus unobserved, leading to a rise in the normality of processed ingredients that are suited to such a lifestyle. The emergence of digestive malfunctions are likely a consequence of this, as well.
So here, I bring our attention back to dishes that really celebrate natural, unrefined ingredients, designed to be placed in the centre of the table on a large sharing platter and surrounded by groups of people. Big ol' salads, wraps, tray-bakes - for feeding the masses!
Spiced aubergine kebabs with homemade spelt flatbreads/Chopped salad with green miso dressing/Asian roasted salad with avocado/Roasted pepper and butter bean bake with herby salsa/Roasted harissa glazed aubergine, flageolet bean dip, and miso squash
Enoki mushrooms. Not something you usually come across in your average supermarket, it must be said. However, I found these beauties via a delivery service online and decided to test them out. They are not bursting with flavour but have a nice stringy consistency – I am a fan of the stringy food groups. To be honest, I don’t think they could ever be star of the show, perhaps it is just the concept of novelty on a plate that feeds my enthusiasm for them. However, they do look fun and impressive.
Seasonal ingredient this week is yellow courgette/summer squash. I love a squash. I love a summer squash. I love a marrow. I love every part of them – even their soggy, seedy flesh and bitter rind. If you’re more swayed by taste rather than texture when it comes to food, then I can understand why you would cast the summer squash aside. But I really think they should be honoured for their texture more than anything, which when roasted or grilled can melt in your mouth like butter. Sprinkled with roasted nuts and herbs and trusty olive oil, they make a delightful and surprisingly filling side to go with your charcoaled BBQ centrepiece. Or tart them up with some lemon, chilli and honey.
Food-waste tip: Garnishes. Any ends of frills of the vegetable that look like they should be discarded definitely shouldn’t. If you slice them up super-fine, you can sizzle anything in oil long enough to go crispy to sprinkle over curries, salads, stews, rice or grain dishes – anything! Not only does it instantly make a dish go from familiar to fabulous but we all know that anything fried and crispy is delicious, whatever it is. For example, this week I chopped up some unused, dry artichoke hearts and the ends of some bananas and fried/caramelised them to sprinkle over a North-African rice dish for an incredible range of texture and flavour.
Casa do Frango - inspired 'North African Green Rice'
Blog of the week: Pick up Limes
I discovered this charming blog through Avant-Garde Vegan who did a video collaboration with Pick Up Limes in Amsterdam cooking 15 minute vegan meals. Her portfolio is a dream. Tons of hearty and wholesome vegan dishes that are quick, easy and cheap. She specialises in the iconic ‘buddha bowls’, but with a few unique variations and twists such as roasting your lentils, or pureeing fruit to make dressings. A few recipes I have up my sleeve (nicked from her blog) are the taco salad, coconut and roasted lentil bowl and zucchini roll ups with vegan ricotta.
Recipe of the week: Bosh filo pastry parcel roast:
This was a delight! There is always a fear that blitzed mushrooms will be earthy or tasteless. However, the combination of the glazed wine, dried-fried herbs and lots of salt combined with the satisfying meaty texture formed by blitzing the mushrooms with spongy sourdough and walnuts was very powerful! I also added a glug of balsamic vinegar and lots and lots of cracked pepper for an extra rich quality. It tastes almost like pate, which was most of my most favourite meat-based foodie delights from the past. It also reminded me that I should use filo pastry more often. Obviously life is far too short to make your own – they don’t even teach you that in Cordon Bleu training – but the [vegan] jus rol option is perfect to make little parcels of wonder, that crisp up in the oven in seconds. They are also a very light variation of pastry, which gives you that sensation that pastry offers without the guilty aftermath of indulgence.
Bosh's Mushroom Filo Pastry Parcels
Instagram of the week: @planetoftheplants has been a real source of inspiration for the last 4 months, feeding our souls with vegan recipe contribution from all our well-known, loved and sorely-missed restaurants. Namely, Henderson’s of Edi’s ‘Vegan Haggis and mash’, Black Cat Hackney’s ‘Vegetable and Chickpea Pancake’, Café Van Gogh’s ‘Saag Mushrooms’, Stem and Glory’s ‘Paella’ and my previous home, Little Green Newcastle’s ‘Vegan Kingdom’ curry. All the classics, whipped up in her kitchen and shared on easy, step-by-step stories. So thank Victoria for bringing us a piece of the London vegan gastronomy scene on the daily!
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